Artist Statement

A native of Washington, I was born on Vashon Island. My family later moved to Sacramento, California.

I have been crazy about paint and printmaking since I was very young. My first memorable exposure to the arts was while I was in Cub Scouts. Since my friends and I were young hooligans of the neighborhood, my mother became a Cub Scout Den Mother “the boss” so she could organize activities and redirect mischievous behavior. Our first art project was the creation of a potato print. I had no idea what a potato print was as I carved my image into the flat side of the cut potato, creating a relief. Speedball printer’s ink was rolled onto the carved surface and the potato was hand-stamped onto paper! What an experience: the unique smell of ink, feel of paper, and image printed in reverse! At that exact moment, I determined that I was to grow up to become an artist.

I completed my BFA degree in Printmaking and Drawing at California College of Arts and Crafts (Oakland, California). I attended California State University Fullerton for my MA degree, with focus in Printmaking and Painting.

The allure of Printmaking and Painting is a personal process of continual discovery. Images derive from my immediate environment, whether they are ariel view of street intersections, markings on highway dividers, skid marks from tires, or marks that people leave behind. Urban lexicon and cycles of nature play a vital role in my visual language.

I am intrigued by Fractals and Penumbras. Fractals can either be a curve or a geometric figure. Each part of the fractal has a statistical character to create the “whole.” Penumbras can be partial shadows, similar to a lunar eclipse, created between regions of complete illumination. An area that lies on the edge of an object, necessary for the second illumination to complete its visual essence, is a penumbra. Penumbras can be partly illuminated areas which surround the complete shadow of an object: being a region around the edge of a sunspot, darker than the sun’s surface.

My concepts consist of experiences relating to the laws of balance, observance of urban life, natural forms and languages, and energies woven with perimeter disturbances. Urban pictographs and hieroglyphics are communications which we discover as we eavesdrop on temporal language. Reality is in a constant state of flux. Fragmented and accompanying images are instantly perceived. Movement of reality either generates a sense of anticipation or a visual latent image. The eye and the mind compress. Seepage of light, whether enigmatic or brilliant, is the synthesis for my work. Images allude to the interdependency of polar opposites: inside/outside, light/dark, form/distortion. It is this filtering of reality that my work addresses. -Nick Capaci